


Persona

by vintagekyu



Category: TREASURE (Korea Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Big focus on friendships, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Jealousy, Junkyu centered, M/M, Performing Arts, Profanity, Sukkyu Bestfriends
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-18
Updated: 2021-03-19
Packaged: 2021-03-27 08:34:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,333
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30120036
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vintagekyu/pseuds/vintagekyu
Summary: Junkyu often observed him from afar.The boy with the brightest smile he’d ever seen; the boy declared “a child prodigy” by many; the boy accepted into the elites after a single interview.The boy had it all,and Junkyu hated him for it.
Relationships: Kim Junkyu/Takata Mashiho, Park Jeongwoo/Watanabe Haruto
Kudos: 11





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! So you might have already read the first three chapters of this story before, and that’s because I deleted the work and chose to post it again now. I wasn't happy with my writing as I reread it and figured I should improve the beginning before I would be able to make a good ending. I hope you understand. 
> 
> If this will be your second time reading chapters one-three, thank you for being patient with me <3 and if this is your first time, have fun reading! <3
> 
> READ: in case you get confused, the italicized quotes are Junkyu’s thoughts.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Introduction

“I’m here, I'm here! Wait up!” Junkyu frantically ran to the bus, barely making it inside in time. Junkyu wasn’t necessarily unorganized but he would often forget to turn his alarm on, which led him to wake up much later than most.

“ _Forgot_ ” is what he told others, but sometimes he just wanted to sleep his days away; to escape reality even if it was just an extra thirty minutes.

(CHARACTER DESCRIPTION) Kim Junkyu was a seventeen year old junior attending ‘YG Academia’. He was tall and strongly built with wide shoulders (mostly thanks to starting competitive dancing early in his childhood). 

Known to be quiet, reserved and _mysterious_ , he often got pursued by girls and guys alike for his outstanding looks, but would harshly shoot them down without a second thought. He was one of the top dance majors in his school, aspiring to become a professional later in life. 

Junkyu sat in the school bus and mentally prepared himself for another fast-paced day. Over his three years at ‘YG Academia’ he had grown accustomed to the daily crazed school routine. His school was one of the most prestigious high schools in South Korea, the acceptance rates being extremely low and the expenses extremely high. His fellow schoolmates were talented, hardworking, and immensely _anxious_ ; every morning the halls would have a handful of freshmen crying and walking around in circles as they pulled their hair out, worrying about the possibility of a pop-quiz and how their future careers would be over if they got anything beneath eighty percent. 

Junkyu on the other hand was never the anxious type, and neither were his friends. Every morning Hyunsuk would make sure to wake the rest by a simple “good morning” message, and as everyone responded the conversation would naturally switch topics and the boys would entertain each other until they reached school. Junkyu would usually be the last of the five to get to school, so he’d be greeted with four hugs at the gates every morning, but this did not happen on this particular day. Junkyu had received a total of (zero) messages, and as he entered their school the halls were almost completely deserted. 

Most people would likely have found this alarming; a quiet and seemingly empty school making them have thoughts such as, “Did something happen?” “Am I late to class?” “Do we even have school today?” yet Junkyu stayed as unfazed as ever, tucking his shirt in as he walked.

He went into the guy’s bathroom to take a look at himself in the mirror, only being able to think of nitpicks at his appearance. His eyes had dark eye bags underneath them, his hair was messy and unbrushed, his uniform was crumpled up and his tie wasn't tied properly. He knew he was handsome, and he knew he could play on that fact a lot. Hyunsuk would often tell him of the kind of ‘hottie’ he could be if he took care of himself and his appearance more, but he could never find the energy or motivation to do so. _“So what if people think I’m attractive or not? Why should I care?”_

As he left the bathroom he spotted two freshmen hanging out around the girls bathroom. He didn’t think twice about it and wasn’t much interested in them until he overheard something one of the girls said. “So who do you think started the fight?”

The word ‘fight’ caught Junkyu’s attention, causing him to stop in his tracks and spy on their conversation.

“Jaemin probably started a fight with Seungmin. You know how serious they are about their lovers' quarrels.” The other girl giggled in response.

 _“Huh… what's that about?”_ Junkyu thought, finding himself growing curious on the topic. 

He continued walking down the hallway (one the school made obnoxiously long to fit pupils' art works; perfectly displayed for anyone who enters the school to see), when he heard rowdy kids chanting. He tried to make out what they were saying but he was too far away to tell. Considering the unusual circumstances, the curiosity inside of him continued to grow immensely and the previous grogginess went away immediately. Arguments with prestigious kids like the ones attending ‘YG Academia’ are rare, so he was going to make sure he didn't miss this one. “ _Skipping a class won't hurt anyone,"_ he thought to himself as he entered the cafeteria. 

He looked around in an attempt to locate the source of the yelling kids. As he firmly excused himself to the people standing in his way he saw a large circle of students chanting two names he struggled to make out. His plans of violently pushing his way through got interrupted as he heard his own name being shouted from his left, quickly averting his eyes to two of his friends, Jaehyuk and Yoshi. 

(CHARACTER DESCRIPTION) Yoon Jaehyuk was a sixteen year old vocal major and sophomore attending ‘YG Academia’. Tall with a killer smile, he was known to be flirtatious and _overly-friendly_ , but overall a nice guy. Probably needed to cool it on the Kdrama’s though.

(CHARACTER DESCRIPTION) Kanemoto Yoshinori, also known as Yoshi, was a seventeen year old dance major and junior attending ‘YG Academia’. Due to his daily outdoor football games, he earned himself a healthy tan and sun-dyed light brown hair. He was known to be quite the jock, but also slightly gullible, something his friends often took advantage of.

“Good morning sunshine!” Jaehyuk beamed in a sarcastic tone, mocking Junkyu’s rather disoriented state and earning himself a push which almost knocked him over. 

Junkyu turned towards Yoshi and furrowed his eyebrows. “What’s with the crowd? Why does our canteen look like the one from Mean Girls?” Yoshi snickered, “You're asking the wrong question. The real question is 'who are the people in the middle?'"

"Why should I care?"

“Just ask me.” 

“...Who are the people in the middle...”

“Try to guess, sweetie!”

 _‘This asshole’…_ “Na Jaemin? Kim Seungmin?”

“No, but I’d love to see _that_ ” Yoshi giggles, “it’s one of our friends.“ 

He took a step back in surprise. “One of OUR friends?” Junkyu thought over it for a little while, refusing to believe a friend of his started the unusual ruckus. “Hyunsuk and his weak ass would never…” Yoshi gave him a knowing look, encouraging him to think over it again. “Haruto didn’t... did he?” 

“Hell yeah he did!” Yoshi excitedly held his hand up for a high five that no one engaged with. 

“Hyunsuk’s gonna kill him, and then us for not stopping it.” Jaehyuk sighed, “but how the hell are we supposed to penetrate a shield of hype freshmen? I bet this is the most amused they’ve been in years.” 

Junkyu looked around, analysing the situation and trying to think of any ways to distract the circle of pupils, which is when it hit him. 

“Don’t worry guys, I got an idea. Be ready for the kids to start screaming and panicking.” He smirked, running his fingers through his hair as he mentally prepared himself for chaos. 

“I don’t like this-” Jaehyuk tried to protest, but Junkyu was already far gone. “I hope he burns something,” Yoshi humored him.

Junkyu ran out of the cafeteria, going to the right from the hallway and all the way to the senior physics lab. He made his way to the “closed off staircases” _as the school labeled them_. Only Junkyu's friends knew that staircase C was never actually locked, since Hyunsuk was part of the school council and digged around for whatever secrets he could find, eventually entrusting his four friends with his newfound information. 

Using these staircases they could get around any parts of the school much faster and efficiently, because the insides of the forbidden staircases were interconnected by doorways, and from there they could unlock the other doors and go on their merry way. But that was not why he was there. Since these specific staircases were supposed to be “closed off” or “staff only use” there were no security cameras. And knowing this Junkyu hit the red fire alarm, setting it off at only 8:05 in the morning. 

Sensing that the school was about to go berserk at any moment, he immediately ran to the most hidden staircase he could think of and quietly leaped out. Nobody looked at him as he left the staircase, seemingly not noticing his arrival. “Nice” he thought, proud as ever. 

Unfortunately for Junkyu, that feeling of triumph was short-lived, because as he turned around he was met with the eyes of no one other than his sworn enemy (which may or may not have been completely self proclaimed).

**“Kim Junkyu?!”**

Junkyu winced and dramatically facepalmed on the assumption that the other had seen him leave the staircase. _“But that doesn’t mean the fire alarm was started by me, right? Using staircase E isn’t forbidden. I can still play this smart.”_ Junkyu noticed his eyes had widened upon seeing the other, so he forced an innocent look to appear on his face instead. _Sweet and innocent,_ a role he struggled to play around Mashiho. 

(CHARACTER DESCRIPTION) Takata Mashiho was a sixteen year old sophomore and dance elite attending YG Academia. He was a small boy, easily one of the smallest in their school, just having the top of his head reach Junkyu’s shoulders. He had big, bright brown eyes and curly brown hair. 

He joined the school last year as an exchange student, but was later awarded a scholarship and decided to stay. Top dance pupil of his school, often referred to as a "dance prodigy" and admired by most of the dance majors.

Immediately trying to turn the conversation around, Junkyu replied, “I think we have to go to the field Mashiho! It’s probably nothing, but let’s not get in trouble.” He faked a smile. 

The younger studied his face for a solid thirty seconds, visibly suspicious of the junior and putting chills down his spine. “You’re a horrible actor, Kim.” 

Acting confused, Junkyu furrowed his eyebrows. “What do you mean?” 

“Well for starters, nothing about those facial reactions are normal. And secondly, I literally saw you run out the staircase Junkyu... A staircase with a fire alarm and no security cameras.” 

Junkyu fell to the floor. He refused to get caught by his rival, that would hurt his man-pride too much. “How do you even know about that?” Hyunsuk told him it was a top-secret, and he had never seen any other students use staircase C. 

“Jeongwoo saw Haruto using a forbidden staircase once,”

“ _That dumb motherfucker.”_

“so he convinced Yedam to look through the school's documents on the staircases in secret where-” 

“What do you want?” Junkyu sighed in defeat as he forced the other to cut to the chase. 

“Oh nothing! Your secret will be safe with me.” Mashiho smiled, seemingly genuine, “ _but you can never know with people like Takata Mashiho. He’s probably trying to run me off-course.”_

“I just didn’t figure _you_ of all people to be a delinquent.” Mashiho laughs lightheartedly, “I'm just curious! So why’d you do it?”

Junkyu moved his attention elsewhere, looking to the wall next to them where a poster promoting the upcoming winter festival was hung; a poster he saw Hyunsuk working on two weeks prior (therefore already knowing what it said) but anything was better than talking to Mashiho in Junkyu’s eyes. He shut Mashiho out, hoping that he’d go away on his own. 

Junkyu stayed silent, never moving from his spot on the floor, and feeling compelled Mashiho joined him, waiting for the other to fill the awkward silence. 

What neither of them expected was a teacher sneaking up behind them, yelling at them for breaking school rules and pulling their ears as they screamed out in pain. 

“Ow! Miss that hurts!”

“Is this really necessary?!”

“I can feel my ear peeling off...” 

“This is all your fault, Takata!” 

“ME? You were the one that pulled the fire alarm!” 

“Shut up will you?!”

And so they continued till they reached the principal's office.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Junkyu and Mashiho meet the principal and face consequences for their actions.

Upon their entrance they were met with the eyes of the principal, but to Junkyu’s surprise and dismay, also Hyunsuk’s and Yedam’s. 

(CHARACTER DESCRIPTION) Choi Hyunsuk was a seventeen year old junior and elite arts major in ‘YG Academia’. He had matt blue hair and sparkling brown eyes. Short, but with fitting proportions. 

He was best friends with Junkyu since childhood and was often referred to as “the dad friend” due to his kind and nurturing nature. Top academic and arts major in their school; he rode a full scholarship. 

(CHARACTER DESCRIPTION) Bang Yedam was a sixteen year old sophmore and elite vocal major in ‘YG Academia’. He had wavy light brown hair and strong, clear cut features, and an average build. 

He was Mashiho’s student guide the prior year and later became one of his best friends. Top vocal major in their school; rode a full scholarship and was often referred to as “The Elite Three” alongside Hyunsuk and Mashiho.

_“Hyunsuk? Why the hell is he here?!”_

“Take a seat, all of you.” Junkyu tried to keep his unbothered and “cool” reputation by acting unfazed, but like the rest he obeyed the orders given. He looked towards his friend and noticed how his eyes were fixated on him, never moving his gaze even as they all sat down. 

“So, which one of you did it?” the principal mindlessly blurted out. 

“Excuse me? Junkyu asked out of surprise. He expected a moral teaching or to be told off for misbehaving but the principal did neither, leaving him confused and startled.

“Which one of you triggered the fire alarm?” The principal reached for a box of doughnuts as he spoke and leaned back in ease. His demeanour showed no signs of disappointment, anger or frustration as what would be the most appropriate reaction, instead he seemed more unbothered than Junkyu himself. 

Junkyu was about to argue for his innocence; argue about how they had no evidence that he was involved and that the fire alarms in 'YG Academia' should be taken more seriously, but he figured that the principal was too uninterested to care. He did not bother enough to ask why they did it, he simply wanted to know who to punish. _“Considering the reputation of this school and how much that fucker gets paid, he could at least put on a facade.”_

Both of them stayed silent, avoiding eye contact and refusing to speak. Even Mashiho went silent, someone who was merely a bystander and witness at most.

“Come on boys, It’s either one of you or you both. A student reported to have heard you talk about turning the alarm on.”

_“Is that why we got caught so fast? I didn’t see anyone around though…”_

“The other students have to wait out on the field until we have confirmation that it was a false alarm, so please, get this over with fast.”

Junkyu’s confusion quickly turned into anger. While he did do it, and he did indirectly admit to doing it earlier when talking to Mashiho, he still felt like he was being framed. The school took another student’s word over his own, which ignited a furious fire inside of him, so he was planning on staying silent like the accused victim that he wasn’t. 

As time went on the silence became thicker, almost unbreathable. The principal did not seem to mind much, starting his second box of doughnuts as he looked out the window. He was an old man, hair already graying and back already bending. Junkyu had not seen him around the school very often; he usually assumed that was because the principal was busy with paperwork or school affairs, but he could now tell that it was all just an act. 

He looked towards his fellow accused victim, noticing how the other was digging his nails into his thumb and how his legs were shaking. The sophomore was visibly distressed which caused a pit of guilt to grow in Junkyu’s stomach; while actively despising Mashiho and regularly praying for the guy to fall off a bridge, a part of him knew the other didn’t deserve to get in trouble for his actions. _“I'm better than this. I should just come clean. NOT for Mashiho, but for myself!”_

He made up his mind to tell the truth, but like always, the younger was one step ahead of him. 

“It was me! I’m so sorry sir. It was an outright accident, I swear!” Mashiho turned towards the older and gave him a genuine apology; “I’m sorry for getting you into trouble Junkyu.” 

Junkyu could not believe the words leaving the sophomore's mouth. _“Has that egghead lost his mind?! He can't do that; he can’t be the bigger person when he’s not even involved!”_

Junkyu immediately opened his mouth to argue. “Sir, he’s just covering for me! You know Mashiho, just being the sweet guy he is.” He desperately tried to fight the urge to gag at his own words. “It was me, I wanted to get out of English. I’m sorry.” 

He took a moment to analyze the situation he was in and found the entire thing to be strangely ironic; without a single thought he went to extremes to end a fight his friend had started and save him from getting in trouble, causing him to take the downfall, and when another guy he couldn't care less about tries to take the downfall for him, he argues to save him as well. 

_“But why? Why would Mashiho help me, and why won’t I let him?”_

Yedam, Hyunsuk and the principal all stared at the two in shock, left speechless by the unexpected confessions and different stories being blurted out left and right.

“You’re leaving me in a bit of a dilemma, boys.” The principal scratched his head and straightened his posture as he nailed his head, desperately trying to get to the bottom of the case. He turned his head toward Hyunsuk and Yedam but the both of them kept their eyes glued to the floor, visibly trying to escape his gaze.

Unfortunately for Yedam, his suspicion was right, and the moment he looked up the principal's eyes were fixated on him. “Yedam! My top vocal and exemplar student! What do you think would be the most appropriate action to take?” 

_“So that’s why they’re here…”_

“Well,” he shot an apologetic look towards Junkyu, “Junkyu did admit to doing it, and uh,” 

“So did Mashiho.” Hyunsuk interrupted the elite, growling under his breath as he stared blankly at the door. 

“Yes… but breaking school regulations is entirely out of Mashiho’s character.” 

“So you’re insinuating that it’s not of Junkyu’s? Considering that you barely know each other, and the other accused is a friend of yours, that seems like a biased argument.” 

Yedam hesitated, and as he was unable to think of a reasonable reply he deflated, growing smaller in size. 

Hyunsuk turned towards the principal and continued; “Sir, with all due respect, Yedam is not even answering your question. Instead he blindly tries to defend his friend without having any proof of who activated the alarm. We as members of the student council and school community should treat everyone equally, with no bias.” 

They collectively stared at Hyunsuk in awe. Junkyu raised his eyebrows in surprise at how well his friend argued despite seeming uninterested and inattentive only a moment ago. He originally wanted to take all the blame and get out of the office as quickly as possible, but not rooting for his best friend after he stood up for him seemed unlawful in his mind. _“That's my bestie!”_ he proudly thought to himself, leaning back in ease.

“To actually answer your question, I believe giving them both the same punishment would be the most appropriate. I recommend a detention.” 

_“What…?”_

“Very well! Both pupils get a week of detention. Yay you!”

**Author's Note:**

> hope you enjoyed! leaving kudos or comments would be much appreciated and plays a big part in motivation for me to finish my works <3


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